Letters
The Riftoning of Metronome
Dear Ann,
I write you from deepest Ohio. I am here to deposit a child for higher educational purposes. On the drive out yesterday, I had ice cream twice, so I will confess to being a little hung over today. (A DQ dip on the road, and later, a scoop of fresh peach in Cleveland. That’s a quarterly allotment of ice cream for me, as the only kinds I really like are DQ and fresh peach, neither of which are readily available to me on the reg.) But before I left New York, I documented the glorious finish of Metronome the Second.
Pattern: Metronome by Julia Farwell-Clay. A super-fun knit in which you do intarsia without bobbins or balls or pulling from the tangle, or even cutting the yarn.
Yarn: Rifton, by Jill Draper Makes Stuff. Rifton is a long-striping yarn in which there are two undyed colors, straight off the sheep’s back, and two dyed colors. (This shade is Winter.)
Rifton was a Love At First Sight yarn for me, and I clutched my 600-yard cake of it for months while dithering about choice of pattern.
Many eligible patterns were considered and rejected, mostly for no reason other than my reluctance to stop dreaming about what I could make with my Rifton and actually make something with it. When the idea struck me to do the intarsia stripes of Metronome using the inside end and the outside end of Rifton as the two colors, I couldn’t resist.
I was so curious as to how it would work out. The pattern starts with a tab cast-on at the top neck, and the two ends of Rifton contrasted crisply for a good long while. As the cake of yarn diminished, however, I could see the future, and the future was that at some point, both ends would be the same cobalt/peacock shade of blue.
When the two blue sections collided, it made Invisible Intarsia. I kept changing yarns at the switching point, but the color was the same. I kept knitting until the colors started to contrast again.
Could I have broken the yarn, and skipped over the blue on one end, to make the intarsia visible? Yes, easily enough. But I was grooving on the slow, subtle changes in color, and I couldn’t be bothered. I like the sudden wide swath of deep blue, with just the faint line between the two stripes.
For the final edge, I used Jill’s Mohonk, in a taupe-unto-lavender that almost looks like it was part of the Rifton. Such springy, perfect yarn.
I think I’ve solved the problem of how to fold a crescent shawl: fold it at the center, then in half again, and then roll it, loosely.
A wool burrito that will sit nicely in a drawer or on a shelf, waiting to be worn.
Thanks, Julia and Jill, for a delightful knit that entertained me greatly, and then turned into a perfect thing.
Love,
Kay
I love that pattern. N m way to dg out some yarn.
Ah a lovely shawl, and now I see I have to make one! Ah deepest Ohio – four years of driving to Wooster for DD ‘s college time. Yes she did get her degree in four.
Dianne
I was just reading up on Kay’s metronome with Rifton and saw your Wooster mention – just took my son up for his senior year – I cannot believe this is his last year! Hope your daughter found a job she enjoys!
Which one did Carrie keep? 😉
Comment
Gorgeous shawl, girl! I am still learning how to comment, after all these years.
I love this one even more than the last. The shifts in colour are sublime. DQ vanilla dipped in chocolate was a childhood treat. And still is.
Vanilla DQ cone was 10 cents in my childhood. A nickel more when chocolate dipped. Now THAT makes me feel old. Sigh.
I lived in Wichita Kansas and a large butterscotched dipped DQ was 25 cents-circa 1966
And the shawl is lovely!!
Kay, when it comes to knitting blankets and shawls with beautiful colors, textures, and graphics you are best. This is spectacular.
PS It’s been fun to watch your favorite model grow up over the years.
Absolutely FABULOUS!
I will miss that gorgeous model. She’s a natural!!!
This is what I like about knitting. It allows us to participate in the design process when we knit a pattern. We can make one exactly like the designer intended. Or, we can choose the color, color combinations, fiber, yarn weight, etc. Variations on a theme.
Your yarn choice is brilliant and makes this shawl looks like a new pattern. And then you share your brilliant idea with us. Thank you.
I was surprised to find I enjoy re-knitting a pattern with different yarns and colours to make a different kind of item.
For me in recent years it is Heidi Kirrmaier’s Windward. It really takes well to linen.
Now I am really curious about the Metronome approach to intarsia – since I always avoided it in the past.
Thanks for the great photos! Your (or your daughter’s) scarf wardrobe is even more prepared for the upcoming seasons.
Entrancing.
Thanks for the tip on folding crescent shaped shawls. And as for the idea of intarsia without pain, I might have to try it. And as for this latest shawl: gorgeous indeed.
I’ve avoided intarsia like the plague…but now you’ve hooked me – again – and that’s a good thing! The gradations of color in Metronome are truly magnificent…she’s just beautiful!
When I drove one of my kids to college, I ate an entire bag (large, of course!) of peanut butter Combos, drank Dr. Pepper (I never drink soda!), and played the “Oldies but Goodies blasting all the way home to drown out my tears! What was I thinking…college for them…a new found freedom for us! 🙂
Deepest Ohio is not Cleveland or environs! Get yourself south: to the Hocking Hills, or Circleville for Pumpkin Show, or Ashville for 4th of July. As a Nebraskan, you’d fit right in, Kay!
On the way, check out Yarn It and Haberdashery in Columbus and Von Strohm Weaving and Fiber Mill in Ashville. Great people, great patterns, interesting yarns…
Can you tell I miss Ohio, even tho I live in the wild and crazy state of Texas these days?
I heartily agree about shocking Holls and Yarn It! If you are tempted to venture into Columbus to that lovely yarn shop, take the time to seek out the Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream shop located nearby. One of the specials this summer has been peach jam and biscuit ice cream. Yes, ma’am.!
The Metronome is exquisite; surely do appreciate the intarsia tip.
I grew up in deepest Ohio. When you go back for parents weekend, or some such event, swing by Canton and visit Anne Hanson of Knitspot and Bare Naked Wool fame. She is doing such good things for both the knitting community, and her chosen local city.
I truly truly love this shawl. Metronome in two colors, well, okay, but this is a whole new level of gorgeous, It is definitely in my queue now!
You know there are going to be lots of copycat Metronomes out there now. Including mine. Love how this came out! (Yes, DQ chocolate dipped was a childhood treat for me too. Sigh. Miss those.)
While I am an ice cream person I must confess I have never had the desire to knit A shawl.That is , until your beauty! Your Metronome is an architectural wonder! Congratulations on perfection !
Now that you’ve proved it can be done I will be moving Metronome up the queue and giving my roundelle of Rifton some final squeezes.
At long last a good method to KonMari the shawls!
I made David Lebovitz’s peach ice cream this summer, using homegrown peaches. It was divine.
That shawl looks divine! And what speedy knitting!
And here’s the link to the recipe.
http://www.nytimes.com/1993/08/01/nyregion/food-homemade-ice-cream-fresh-fruit-taste.html
Yes, he worked at Chez Panisse. He lives in Paris now, and writes cookbooks. I have his ice cream recipe book Perfect Scoop.
David Lebovitz’s recipe uses sour cream, and no eggs.
Isn’t that interesting. The NYT says the recipe comes from Chez Panisse. Didn’t David Lebovitz come from Chez Panisse?
I’ve made peach ice cream with a long-ago recipe from the New York Times. Really quite easy with one of those Donvier manual ice-cream makers where you put the chiller insert in the freezer. Fabulous if you can get fresh local peaches
That’s just wonderful and I agree, the blue swath is beautiful. I love your idea of invisible intarsia. But it’s there, you can see it, even if you don’t know what you’re looking at. Just sublime.
Lovely! And genius work w the Rifton.
My method for a crescent shawl is similar, but I vary the spot where I fold it initially, so it doesn’t develop a crease there, and I roll it right away after folding.
Agree with the other comments – I love how the colorway works in this pattern. If you’re ever in north Florida & find yourself mugged of this shawl, I may have something to do with it 🙂
Yes DQ icecream! Nice shawl and good use of the colors.
I am thrilled to have the perfect project for my winter Rifton — I have also been saving mine, going back and forth. I have a question about your edge, though — did you run out of Rifton yarn or decide you didn’t like the color? I love the Mohonk you chose.
I didn’t run out of Rifton but I wanted to introduce a new color per the pattern.
Hit that peach again as you travel back through Cleveland !
Just superb…love everything about this. Not even Fall yet and you have two gorgeous new shawls ready to go. Makes you want some cold weather, I bet. 😉
Absolutely Gorgeous! I tried a Metronome but didn’t like my color combo – good yarn but bought online, so the colors didn’t really work. I know eventually I’ll figure it out. 🙂
Love this!
I started mine in Harrisville shetland but it was not bouncy enough. I may actually have some Jill Draper yarn here. If not, rhinebeck is coming!
This shawl looks divine! And what speedy knitting!
To anyone contemplating this striping technique (2 identical striping yarns knitted alongside each other but from the opposite direction): THIS COLOR COLLISION IS GUARANTEED TO HAPPEN. Seriously. Every time. Probability of one.
If you want to avoid this (but still use 2 identical color-changing yarns alongside each other), the simplest way is to use them both in the same direction but start at a different part of the color change repeat. If you’re knitting from just the one ball, it’d be easier to split it in 2. Then knit from both balls, but make sure you’re knitting them both in the same direction. Maybe mark your original ball with a *start of yarn* piece of tape and a *end of yarn* piece of tape to make sure you don’t mix it up once they’re split?
Oh, ice cream and knitting–what could be better! I love the yarn you used on this second wrap.
Oh my gosh…this shawl with that yarn is fabulous! Could you maybe Ravelry it (yes…it’s a verb to me) so I can favorite it (not actually a verb but acts like one)?
If you are still in deepest Ohio, check out the Lorain county fair in Wellington. Lots of agricultural stuff, nice needlework, and huge produce. Saturday night is the combine Derby! I’ll be there, eating fried cheese on a stick.
That shawl is gorgeous!
I love this subtle Metronome. I think I need some Rifton – for the dreams and for the reality.
I have done intarsia once and have avoided it ever since – but knitting from both ends of a gradient skein and “invisible intarsia” intrigues me!
And I second (or third or eighth or whatever) that you need to get to a Jeni’s next time you’re in Ohio. But I may have to stop at DQ on my way home….
Brilliant use of gorgeous yarn, and I love the very subtle invisible intarsia. Well done, indeed!
I love the long blue stripe—it pulls the whole thing together perfectly. Nicely done!